COVID-19 impact

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are committed to keeping our stakeholders informed as the situation evolves. We see the following impact at this point in time:

• Staff
  Galapagos has strong measures in place to help prevent spread of the virus and protect the health of our staff. We rolled out our global and site business continuity plans and took appropriate recommended precautions and restrictions, including suspending all travel. In practice, this means that our employees are working from home, with the exception of lab personnel and skeleton IT and facility team to ensure safety and operational continuity essential to keep research going. For those, we have stringent cleaning and sanitation protocols in place, and we strictly respect social distancing policies at all times, in order to minimize risk of exposure.
  
  
• Clinical trials
  We have a business continuity plan for our non-clinical and clinical trials, including a pandemic response plan. We have decided to pause the start of early stage trials temporarily. We continuously monitor the situation, always putting patients’ safety and needs front and center, and our teams are working hand in hand with our CROs and clinical trial sites to define next steps. Our collaboration partner Gilead and we have temporarily paused enrollment into the filgotinib trials in order to help protect patient safety. This includes the Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials of filgotinib in Crohn’s disease (DIVERSITY), the Phase 3 in psoriatic arthritis (PENGUIN), the Phase 2 trial in uveitis, and the MANTA and MANTA-RAy trials. We anticipate the Phase 3 program in ankylosing spondylitis will now start later this year.
  
  
• Filgotinib filing process in RA
  The FDA has confirmed priority review with a PDUFA goal date in the second half of this year. As with all applications, but particularly during these difficult circumstances, potential approval timings are subject to change. Gilead continues to work with the FDA and regulatory agencies in Europe and Japan as they review the application. Gilead also confirmed that all sites involved in the manufacturing of filgotinib are established sites that manufacture Gilead marketed products, are in good standing with the FDA, and are GMP certified.
  
  
• Commercial organization
  Build-up of our commercial operations in the EU5 countries and the Benelux to prepare for the potential launch of filgotinib continues as planned.